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NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania – The third INTERPOL West African Police Information System (WAPIS) workshop, hosted by the Mauritanian Police, has brought together some 20 representatives from seven countries to define the design of the WAPIS system aiming to create a national and regional infrastructure for police information exchange in West African countries.

With the WAPIS programme implemented by INTERPOL for the benefit of all 16 West African countries and funded by the European Union, the three-day meeting (21 – 23 March 2013) was officially opened by Mauritania’s Secretary General of the Ministry of Interior and Decentralization, Mohamed Hadi Macina.

During the opening ceremony INTERPOL’s Vice President for Africa Adamu Mohamed said: “This project has come at the right time and will allow West African countries to fight more effectively crime through enhanced information exchange”.

The Head of the Security Division of the Economic Community Of West African States (ECOWAS, Lt Col Dieng, said that WAPIS was an appropriate response to regional security needs and emphasized the excellent cooperation of all partners that made this project possible at the initiative of the West African Police Chiefs Committee (WAPCCO).

The workshop in Nouakchott concluded with the adoption of an operational data model for WAPIS in order to guarantee national, regional and international interoperability.